Text
of the reader. Th e central concern of semiology
is to discover the ways in which given texts can
generate a range of meanings.
Occupying the special attention of analysts in
recent years is the relationship between texts,
the way they interconnect, interweave and
interact upon one another. Intertextuality oper-
ates essentially in the perception and experience
of audience. A TV movie tells the story of a
serial killer; TV news reports carnage caused
by a madman loose with an axe; newspaper
billboards report the latest gang stabbing; and
an art historian claims that the Mona Lisa was
actually a man. What does the individual make
of all this; how does one text infl uence another
in the mind’s eye; and what part is played by the
response of other individuals?
In a basic sense, intertextuality works at the
level of simple publicity and promotion. A fi lm
may be writ large in our consciousness, but
perhaps not only because of the power of the
individual text: there will have been trailers,
publicity material, interviews with the stars on
TV; there will have been conversation about it.
The power of intertextuality is to blur the
boundaries between individual texts, sometimes
to morph them. For example, which is the text
in a promotional DVD – the chart-busting song
of the rock group, their live TV performance at
Glastonbury, or memories audiences cherish of
earlier gigs, earlier recordings, juxtaposed with
those of predecessors and rivals? Roland Barthes,
the French media philosopher, was of the view
that culture is a web of intertextuality and that
texts tend to refer essentially to one another
rather than anchor their referral in reality. See
codes; decoder; encoder; message; narra-
tive. See also topic guide under language/
discourse/narrative; textual analysis.
Text: integrity of the text With the coming
of the internet, two major issues concern the
producers of texts – books, articles, scripts,
photographs, music, etc.: the questions of integ-
rity of the text, and of paternity. Copyright laws
have until now protected the work of an author.
While a book can be quoted from, it cannot
be reprinted, reproduced in any way or altered
without due permission. Th e Net, as yet an open
space for the communication of items of all
kinds, uncontrolled by traditional regulation and
so far evasive of what controls, legal and techni-
cal, might be applied, has threatened to rob texts
of integrity and to ignore their paternity (that
is, the right of the author, composer, artist or
performer to command ‘ownership’ of the text).
In short, networking is open to the abuseradio companies independent of government
authority within societies which subscribe to the
sanctity of the individual’s right to life, provides
fertile ground for headline-seeking by acts of
terror such as hijacks, abductions, assassinations
and bombings.
Publicity for terrorism, and the means to
plan, organize and manage it, was given global
momentum with the development of the
internet (see mobilization). Th e experience
of modern-day terrorism can be instant. Within
minutes of 9/11 – the most devastating act of
terrorism in history, the destruction of New
York’s Twin Towers on 11 September 2001 – the
world was witness to the vulnerability of the
most powerful nation on earth.
Suddenly in countries suff ering the carnage
of terrorism, security takes precedence over
citizen rights. Th e terrorist draws satisfaction
from seeing states (often egged on by the media)
rush to curtail rights (such as free speech) and
liberties (such as freedom of movement and
assembly) which may have taken centuries to
establish. Even the most well-set communities,
confi dent of their values and ways of life, can
be destablized by terrorism. In a democracy,
the ultimate danger is that the state will answer
terrorism with terror: in such a situation, the
role of the media (as watchdog or guard dog)
becomes immensely important.
Further, as happened in the case of the US, not
only were the rights and liberties of American
citizens reined in by legislation (see usa –
patriot act, 2001), the country also converted
the (ungrounded) suspicion that Iraq was
behind the 9/11 atrocity into military invasion,
aided and abetted by Britain, which incurred
its own version of 9/11 in July 2005. See topic
guides under media issues & debates; media:
power, effects, influence.
Text According to Tim O’Sullivan, John Hartley,
Danny Saunders and John Fiske in Key Concepts
in Communication (Methuen, 1983), text refers
to ‘... a signifying structure composed of signs
and codes which is essential to communication’.
Th is structure can take a variety of forms: fi lm,
speech, writing, painting, records, for example.
O’Sullivan et al argue that the word text usually
‘... refers to a message that has a physical existence
of its own, independent of its sender and receiver
and thus composed of representational codes’.
Text is the focal point of study in semiol-
ogy/semiotics. Texts are not normally seen
as being unproblematic but as capable of being
interpreted in a variety of ways, depending on
the socio-cultural background and experience